Counterculture: Impact And Legacy - Essay Example

? COUNTERCULTURE: IMPACT AND LEGACY (A Response Paper) Full ID Number: of of School (University) Word Count: 1,143 Date of Submission: May 20, 2013 Introduction America during the decades of the 1950s through the 1960s enjoyed an unprecedented economic prosperity due to the prolonged period of world peace. In other words, America was able to concentrate on domestic issues like growing its economy and this period led to the great times of peace and prosperity, called by old-timers as the “good old days” when high-paying jobs were plentiful, there was security of tenure in employment, people dreamed of the big American Dream, which was to reach and join the Middle Class. People wanted and were able to attain the desires in life, such as to own their house, buy a car, send the kids to college, and enjoy a leisure trip or a grand cruise, with plenty of savings to spare, and to enjoy a comfortable retirement. This relative economic prosperity is called by the economists and historians alike as the “Affluent Society” in which crass consumerism was the paramount paradigm, abetted by the advertising where people soon developed their wants instead of what they normally needed. The two-term presidency of Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) was encouraging people to buy and to consume the latest durable consumer goods like refrigerators, ovens, and washing machines to be able to enjoy a comfortable middle-class lifestyle in suburbia. There was relative world peace, as no new wars broke out, except in the Korean peninsula, but the proxy wars were going on in different parts of the world due to the brewing Cold War between America and Russia (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR), a struggle between the two contrasting ideologies of democracy and communism, a struggle between the conomic theories of capitalism and central socialist planning. Youthful citizens accustomed to enjoying a comfortable life soon tired of this routine of conformity, and so the Flower Movement came into being as a counter culture to this. Discussion It was a bit ironic that it was Pres. Dwight Eisenhower who warned against the growing military-industrial complex. This is the close relationship between Big Business and military contractors who advocated for a strong military, which in turn asked for formidable armaments with a bigger budget allocation. This was a response to the Soviet communist threat, but it was Eisenhower, a soldier and a general, who saw how a growing military could affect the continued economic prosperity because it will divert crucial resources from other more important sectors of society, such as in education, housing, social security, and health care. The United States of America has a long history of militarism, dating back to its early days as a nation. Americans got used to their expansionist Manifest Destiny of occupying foreign lands, beginning with the acquisition of parts of Mexico back in 1840, interfering in the Cuban Revolution of 1898, then the purchase of the Philippines Islands from Spain, and this military tradition continues even today in the wars with Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in Africa and in the Middle East.1 The younger generations during this period of peace and prosperity soon suffered from a feeling of angst, ennui or restlessness. They argued, and thought that there is more to life than just a series of endless parties, movies, and joy rides. These generations did not experience the horrors of war nor underwent the life difficulties immediately after the Second World War ended. These young people took their lives for granted, that prosperity will continue, and felt a sense of entitlement to enjoying the material comforts in life, with easy money and easy credit. Affluent society soon turned into conspicuous consumption, an unprecedented consumerist culture. The concerns of President Eisenhower which he expressed during his farewell speech at the end of his administration was to contain and control the military-industrial complex because it will divert the taxes needed for education, housing, public infrastructure, and other concerns.2 In this period of economic prosperity, the older generations had more at stake for prosperity to continue, but on the other hand, the younger generations wanted something more out of life. Due to the social ferment at around this time, the youth agitated for substantial changes in America . The youth had too much time on their hands, as they are not financially challenged because of the widespread economic prosperity, and got bored with too much leisure. However, many of the youths also got worried about the development of a bi-polar world, in which the two opposing camps are both armed with nuclear weapons. They got concerned about accidentally starting a nuclear war, and so the Flower Movement came into being. This movement was their reaction to the status quo of big spending in defense, while some people suffered in poverty. The young Americans were generally discontented, that although they are materially improved, they do not want to lose their desire and capacity for meaningful change in society. It was a conflict of interests and priorities, as the young wanted peace in their lifetimes while their parents who belonged to the older generation wanted a secure peace through a strong military. In essence, it was a conflict of differing values in life, termed as “generation gap” in which older people “could not understand” the younger generations, discontented despite their prosperity.3 The historical roots of this youth rebellion, the counter-culture, was in the early 1920s when black Americans thought the fight to end slavery was not finished yet. The Civil War was supposed to outlaw slavery in the United States of America but many of its vestiges were still seen and felt in discriminatory laws and practices against black people. The Jim Crow laws of the South were a strong reminder how the blacks continued to suffer. So the Flower Movement was an offshoot of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the original fight by women to earn the right of suffrage. The counter-culture was against social conservatism and the status quo; it got ideas from Medgar Ever and Martin Luther King of the Civil Rights Movement by using protest rallies, prayers, and sit-ins to draw attention to their agenda. It also got ideas from the feminist movement at this time.4 Young Americans think there is a better way to change the world peacefully than by a simplistic view of regime change by overthrowing foreign governments.5 Conclusion The Flower Movement was successful in opposing the Vietnam War, and has a positive impact even today, when the United States is reluctant to engage in new wars. New art forms came into existence such as jazz, soulful music invented by black Americans to highlight their sad plight before, a sound symbol of political struggle.6 There is now a big paradigm shift in how America conducts foreign policy. Today it uses more of its cooperative diplomacy, it no longer advocates the use of arrogant military power unless absolutely necessary, unlike before.7 Bibliography Eisenhower, Dwight D. The Military-Industrial Complex: Farewell Address of President Eisenhower. Lacey, WA, USA: Basementia Publications, 2006. Hayden, Tom. The Port Huron Statement: The Visionary Call of the 1960s Revolution. New York, NY, USA: The Avalon Publishing Group, 2005. Kinzer, Stephen. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. New York, NY, USA: Henry Holt & Company, 2006. Paludi, Michele A. Feminism and Women's Rights Worldwide (Santa Barbara, CA, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Recker, Christine. Varieties of Literary Interpretations of Jazz in American Writings of the 1950s and 1960s. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2006. Read More